During the processing of animals for human consumption, the primary meat and meat products are derived from the animal's skeletal muscles. That is, the meat products generally prepared for human consumption come from muscles that are attached to the skeleton of the animal and function to facilitate movement and support the weight of the animal. A number of other parts of the carcass are either consumed directly by people or used in the production of other foods. These other portions of the carcass are often referred to as “offal.” There are a number of types of animals that can be processed for consumption. Examples of such animals include beef or bovine (e.g., cattle, steers, heifers, cows, bulls, and buffalo), pork or porcine (e.g., sows, gilts, barrows, boars, and pigs), and ovine (e.g., sheep and lamb).
The technology used to process the skeletal muscles of such animals is relatively advanced compared to the technology used to process the offal. Most technology used to process skeletal muscles is directed toward increasing quality and operational efficiency. Many technologies have been developed that can systematically perform tasks previously performed by multiple human workers. The use of such technologies increases the throughput of the production facility as well as reducing the amount of human error. This ultimately results in a decrease in costs to the producer, which can be passed on as cost savings to the consumer.
The technology employed to process offal has not been advanced in the way that technology has been advanced for the processing of the rest of the animal carcass. There is a significant market for offal and thus the implementation of technologies to increase efficiency in its production would be beneficial. Various technologies that have been contemplated for use in processing offal are not feasible to implement in existing meat production facilities due to, for example, their size and the limited space in such facilities. Since newer technologies have generally not been implemented in the production of offal, most meat production facilities still rely mainly on human labor to process offal, especially when it comprises intestines.
The current process employed by most meat production facilities to process intestines requires the coordinated effort of between about 10-20 employees. The intestine is a generally soft, tubular element, which extends from the stomach to the anus. The small intestines of various animals vary in length from about 15 feet to about 120 feet. The small intestines of cattle, for example, typically extend between about 80 feet to about 120 feet, with more typical lengths being between about 100 feet and 110 feet. Small intestines of hogs typically extend between about 15 and 18 feet. The intestines (whether from a bovine, porcine, or ovine) are typically extracted from the carcass of the dead animal during the slaughtering process. When extracted, the intestines generally remain attached to the mesentery and are disposed in a sinuous configuration. The intestines typically have connective tissue, fat tissue, and glands attached to an exterior surface, all of which must be removed prior to human consumption.
In a live red-meat animal, the intestines receive food (also referred to as “ingesta”) from the stomach, which is passed along the length of the intestine so that nutritional components of the food can be absorbed into the animal's blood stream. The unabsorbed portion of the food is discharged from a distal end of the intestine as digesta or fecal matter. Intestines that are harvested from the carcasses of red-meat animals during slaughtering contain some amount of digesta or fecal matter, which must be removed prior to human consumption.
Some technologies employ a carrier for holding and transporting sections of an intestine above an operator. Such technologies are cumbersome in their size and the fact each carrier has to be brought to the water supply. Due to the size of such a machine it is not feasible for introduction into currently existing meat production facilities.
The prior art systems and methods for cleaning animal intestines are labor-intensive, space consuming, and require much human intervention. This slows the cleaning process to below commercial chain speeds in a meat processing facility.